Gardening and Landscaping with Native Plants
FNPS Landscaping Brochure
Here is the Southeast Regional FNPS Native Landscaping brochure. One side shows 63 recommended native landscape species in their "right place" (sunny-dry soils, for example) with at least 6 species for each light and soil-moisture zone.
The other side has basic native landscaping tips and recommended links and books for additonal information. You can get a copy at any Broward Chapter event.
Or view the brochure online here.
Native Plant Lists
- Landscape & Enthusiast Plants Native to Broward (improved July 2017) This list has 380 of Broward County native landscape and ethusiast species grouped by light and soil-moisture zones and sorted by plant size. This full pallet of species may be especially helpful to landscapers and others seeking species for challenging places and innovative design.
- Florida Native Plant Society's native plant resource pages https://fnps.org/plants which include planting zones, wildlife uses, etc. for Broward County.
- Institute for Regional Conservation Website with native landscape and enthusiast species found in the southern counties of Florida
Native Nurseries in Broward, Dade, & Palm Beach Counties
Butterfly Plants
Native plants have longstanding relationships with wildlife. By longstanding relationships, we mean thousands to millions of years. An ancestral butterfly of the living Metalmark is encased in amber and exhibited at the Simithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington D.C. A butterfly's defense of eating poisonous plants (and some pretty remarkable adaptations to accomplish that) is one example of the complexity and interdepence between one species of butterfly and particular plant genera or species. Many birds, butterflies, pollinators, and other creatures require particular native plant species for food, reproduction, essential nurtients, and health. Below are three plant lists that help you match butterflies with the native plants they require or desire.
As a new butterfly gardener, you don't need to understand these complex relationships between wildlife and plants. In fact, science has only begun to observe and understand it. If you plant native species, you will be amazed by the birds, butterflies, and other wildlife that come to your garden. The lists below are some of the well-known "butterfly plants". Choose a few to discover those you like, that wildlife likes, and that thrive in the light, soils, and soil moisture where you plant them.
- Host Plants for Scarce South Florida Butterflies (sorted by plant)
- Nectar Plants for Scarce South Florida Butterflies (sorted by plant)
- South Florida Butterflies and their Native Plants (Broward County list)
- Scarce South Florida Butterflies and Host Plants (sorted by butterfly)
Please visit the Broward Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) for much more information about butterflies.
